A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake has struck southern Mexico's Pacific coast, killing at least six people and seriously injuring others in isolated villages.
The tremor caused damage to buildings hundreds of miles away in Mexico City on Tuesday.
The six fatalities were near the quake's centre in Oaxaca, a mountainous state known for its coffee, mescal and Spanish colonial architecture.
Witnesses in the state's Pacific coast resort town of La Crucecita, which Mexican authorities said was the epicentre of the earthquake, saw anxious residents standing outside their homes hours after the quake as they feared deadly aftershocks.
Houses were scarred by wide cracks across walls and residents sought to clear debris from the streets. About 200 houses in the area were damaged, including 30 that were badly impacted, a local official said.
Rockfalls blocked winding mountain roads between the state capital of Oaxaca city and the coast.
Rescue workers reported three people seriously injured in the remote hill village of Santa Catarina Xanaguia, one state official said. They battled for hours to reach the settlement, near the epicentre, where the quake brought down homes and parts of the mountainside, the official said.
Quakes of magnitudes over seven are major earthquakes capable of widespread, heavy damage.
